Ash of War Balanced Expansion

MESSAGE FROM MOD AUTHOR: If you like this mod, please try out my Old Dogg's Moderately-Sized Spell and Equipment Overhaul, as it comes with all of the changes from this included.

This mod adds many Ashes of War to each weapon type in the game, selected in a way that maintains consistency (both in terms of visuals and balance) and fits seamlessly into the game.

If you would also like to parry with Glintstone Staves and Sacred Seals, check out my Parry With Casting Tools mod.

I was playing around with a Great Spear a few days ago, looking forward to trying out a Dragonslayer Ornstein build by giving it Lightning Slash to make it crackle with electricity, and I wasn't able to find the Ash of War in the menu for it. I thought it must've already been equipped on a different weapon or that I hadn't picked it up yet on that character, and was quickly surprised to find out that it simply can't be equipped on polearms. I was absolutely befuddled by this, as spears have had a connection to lightning in the Souls series since the first Dark Souls, and I set out to make a mod to fix it.

As I was looking through the Ash of War param in Smithbox, I realized that there were many odd inconsistencies in the weapon selection for many Ashes of War, especially with the new Shadow of the Erdtree weapon types. Lightning Slash is the only weapon buff AoW (Sacred Blade, Flaming Strike, Lightning Slash, Chilling Mist, Poisonous Mist, Seppuku, and Cragblade) that can't be put on Spears, Great Spears, and Halberds. Flaming Strike can't be put on Colossal Swords and Colossal Weapons, despite the established connection Fire damage has to Strength in Elden Ring. Golden Slam can't be put on Perfume Bottles (the ONLY weapon type it can't be put on), but Ground Slam can (they're the same skill, just with Golden Slam doing more Holy damage instead of pure Physical). Determination and Royal Knight's Resolve can't put on Hand-to-Hand, despite both of their descriptions saying "Usable on all melee armaments." Same with Thunderbolt, for some reason. Scattershot Throw can't be put on Claws, even though the Claws of Night have it as their weapon skill.

Perfume Bottles get access to almost no Ashes of War, not even most of the ones that are available on all other weapons, such as Thunderbolt, Hoarfrost Stomp, Lightning Ram, Flame of the Redmanes, Golden Vow, White Shadow's Lure, Blinkbolt, etc. You can't even say it's because Perfume Bottles don't count as melee weapons, because the descriptions on Storm Stomp, Kick, Ground Slam, Hoarah Loux's Earthshaker, Beast's Roar, Endure, Quickstep, Bloodhound's Step, and Raptor of the Mists (these are all the Ashes of War the Perfume Bottles can equip by default) all say "Usable on all melee armaments."

I also thought it was strange and wasteful of them to lock so many of the cool new DLC AoWs behind only a single weapon type, so you can only put Wing Stance on Light Greatswords, and there's only a single Light Greatsword that can have Ashes of War put on it. Same with Piercing Throw, Scattershot Throw, Raging Beast, Savage Claws, Blind Spot, Swift Slash, Overhead Stance, etc.

I tested this mod and almost every new weapon type/Ash of War combination, most of them in actual combat, to make sure they function properly and don't have any major visual or lore issues (IE no lightning/poison skills on Glintstone Staves, no thrusting/stabbing skills on blunt weapons, etc). Many Ash of War animations were specifically designed for certain types of weapons, such as Spinning Strikes for polearms with long handles, so I made sure to not include anything that has broken animations. Whips, in particular, would require custom animations for different Ashes of War, as the whip won't extend properly if used with any Ash of War they don't have access to by default. Backhand Blades, also, are held backwards compared to all other weapons, so they also can't use many non-default Ashes of War without the blades clipping through your character.

Detailed change list:

[]Aspects of the Crucible: Wings: Now available on Greataxes, Great Hammers, and Colossal Weapons

[]Assassin's Gambit: Now available on Curved Swords and Backhand Blades

[]Black Flame Tornado: Now available on Curved Greatswords, Heavy Thrusting Swords, Greataxes, Great Hammers, Flails, Light Greatswords, and Great Katanas

[]Blind Spot: Now available on Hand-to-Hand and Beast Claws

[]Blinkbolt: Now available on Light Bows, Bows, Sacred Seals, and Perfume Bottles

[]Bloodhound's Step: Now available on Glintstone Staves and Sacred Seals

[]Blood Tax: Now available on Curved Swords, Fists, Claws, Sacred Seals, Hand-to-Hand, Perfume Bottles, and Beast Claws

[]Carian Grandeur: